Mood sensing sharing device based system and intervention for symptoms of stress

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure pertains to a biofeedback driven, MSSD wearable electronic device for the complementary intervention of presented symptoms of stress.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS AND APPLICATIONS

This application is related to and claims priority from U.S. Pat. No. 9,064,390, titled “System and Method for a Novelty Mood Sensing Sharing Device,” awarded Jun. 23, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. This application is related to and claims priority from United States Provisional Patent Application No. 63,204,017, titled “A Mood Sensing Sharing Device Based System and Intervention for Symptoms of Stress,” filed Sep. 8, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

REFERENCE TO COMPACT DISC APPENDIX

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a novel intervention for physical symptoms of stress; utilizing a Mood Sensing Sharing Device (MSSD) technology to Power a Complementary Treatment (“MPCT”). An example implementation supports a guided deep breathing intervention (MSSDBI). MSSD technology is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 9,064,390 (Jun. 23, 2015)—“the '390 Patent.” It should be understood that the MPCT invention is not limited to the embodiments exemplified and described hereafter.

Stress can be triggered by physical or mental events and can be characterized as being either exogenous or endogenous. A workplace assignment deadline and a school exam are two examples of mental exogenous (i.e., external) stressors. Mental endogenous stress may result from mental anxiety, depression or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for example. Regardless of the characterization, chronic stress can result in physical symptoms or bodily manifestations. Physical symptoms of stress include headaches, upset stomach, high blood pressure, chest pain, sexual dysfunction, sleep problems, obesity, anxiety and depression.

Decades before the Coronavirus pandemic, long-lasting stress was recognized as a public health crisis in America; having many identified causes, including concerns about money, work, health status, family responsibilities, housing and job security. Pharmacology and cognitive behavioral therapy are traditional treatment options, with demonstrated efficacy for the intervention of symptoms of stress. However, cultural and familial considerations may deem these traditional interventions for stress to be prohibitively invasive—which, in turn, may lead to lower compliance, precipitating poorer health outcomes.

Complementary treatment (i.e., intervention) options, such as yoga, meditation, exercise, deep breathing, counting and other relaxation techniques, have been shown to reduce symptoms of high levels of stress. Moreover, complementary stress treatments can be viewed as being more culturally acceptable to some health populations. However, traditional complementary treatments do have some drawbacks. For starters, the required ongoing time commitment to a practice may make it difficult to find the time to squeeze such practices into modern oversubscribed schedules. For example, a deep breathing, or a diaphragmatic breathing practice generally entails one or two sessions a day, with each session lasting up to 15 minutes or longer on average. Moreover, the practice of complementary interventions is typically divorced from the event which triggered the stress. This may make it difficult to maintain a relevancy perspective, which is necessary to maintain compliance. The time lag, between the start of a practice and the event which triggered the stress, may also make it difficult to link the benefit of a later practice session back to a particular stressor. Finally, a delayed use of a practice session may also limit the benefit of the practice. For example, a deep breathing session performed after a migraine headache has ensued may have little affect on the practitioner's current pain. In such cases, stronger pharmaceutical treatments may be necessary.

To overcome the stated deficiencies of the existing complementary treatments, the MPCT system provides for an alternative, MSSD “alerted” mitigation of the physical symptoms of stress. Like other complementary treatments, MPCT is more culturally acceptable compared to traditional pharmaceutical and psychotherapeutic stress interventions. But, unlike existing traditional and existing complementary treatments, MPCT is less time consuming. Moreover, MPCT is practiced in close time proximity to the stress event—further distinguishing MPCT from traditional and other complementary treatments. As a consequence, MPCT promises greater compliance, which leads to better health outcomes relative to prior approaches. For example, compared specifically to existing deep breathing interventions for the symptoms of stress, MPCT provides faster acting, timelier interventions that do not require the maintenance of a daily practice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to a biofeedback driven, MSSD wearable electronic device for the complementary intervention of presented symptoms of stress. As a specific embodiment of a “System and Method for a Novelty Mood Sensing Sharing Device” (in the '390 Patent), the two relevant components of MPCT are the following: (a) A Smart Ring, comprising a Mood Sensing Sharing Device 11 (MSSD in FIG. 1 of the '390 Patent); and (b) A Stress Monitor App, which is a Mood Sensing Sharing App 52 (MSSA in FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent).

An MPCT Smart Ring's sensor 45 (“biosensor”) and mood stone 20, respectively per FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 of the '390 Patent, detect physiological changes in a wearer's body, which are triggered by the autonomic nervous system's response to different levels of stress. Such detections are relayed to an MPCT Stress Monitor App, which then initiates a complementary relaxation session, for example, a deep breathing session in the case of an MSSDBI implementation, upon the detection of a high level of stress-corresponding to cholesteric crystal 20 (FIG. 2 of the '390 Patent) exhibiting the color black. The color black is indicative of a “tense, nervous emotional state.”

The MPCT Smart Ring and Stress Monitor App recognize symptoms of stress and alert users at the onset of stress and during earlier stages when conservative intervention can be most effective. Their operation can best be understood in terms of the model depicted in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 .

FIG. 1 is exemplary of a long-acting stress. In the FIG. 1 model, stress induces anxiety, which precipitates physical symptoms, which increase in intensity until a person experiencing the stress becomes aware of their physical discomfort. At that point, the person can begin mitigation (i.e., intervention) steps that ultimately result in the resolution of the symptoms. However, in some instances, long-acting stress may be coincident with delayed awareness, which may make it difficult to pinpoint the origin of the symptoms. If this repeatedly occurs, without addressing the root cause of the stress, a full-blown anxiety disorder may result.

The objective of MPCT is to improve health outcomes regarding induced chronic stress. The novel, adapted breathing sessions, lasting 3-minutes each, are initiated upon notification (i.e., alert) at the onset of a high level of stress as shown FIG. 2 per the indicated “J2 Alert.” Because awareness and mitigation occur sooner in FIG. 2 , the resolution of stress induced symptoms can occur more quickly. A second objective of MPCT is to halt the progression in the severity of symptoms of stress before a clinical diagnosis of anxiety disorder or depression is reached. The MSSD powered biofeedback driven alerts better optimize the timing of when a complementary intervention is started to mitigate symptoms of stress. This distinguishes MPCT from the prior art whereby the user decides when to initiate a complementary intervention as part of a regular practice. The MPCT biofeedback driven notifications also distinguish MPCT from existing relaxation apps, such as Apple's Breathe App, which randomly generate daily reminders to a user to initiate a relaxation session. Because such reminders are not linked to a particular stress inducing event, users may find the reminders to be intrusive and unnecessarily disruptive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a model showing the progression and ultimate resolution of stress induced symptoms.

FIG. 2 is a model showing the operation of MPCT, resulting in the quicker resolution of stress induced symptoms.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

This invention relates to the complementary intervention for symptoms of high levels of stress using MPCT. MPCT is a specific embodiment of the '390 Patent, comprising an MSSD conforming Smart Ring and a conforming MSSA Stress Monitor App.

An MPCT system comprises a Smart Ring 11 (FIG. 3 of the '390 Patent) and a Stress Monitor App 52 (FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent), running on an operating system 51 (FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent) of a paired mobile communications apparatus 12 (FIG. 1 of the '390 Patent). In an exemplary embodiment, the mobile communications apparatus (MCA) 12 (FIG. 1 of the '390 Patent) is an Apple iPhone and the operating system 51 (FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent) is IOS version 12.x or higher.

An MPCT Smart Ring, which is worn on a finger of a wearer, comprises a mood stone and an electronics subsystem (ES)—consisting of one or more biosensors, a microprocessor, memory, wireless connectivity and a powering-charging element-all housed within a ring chassis.

In an exemplary embodiment, the MPCT Smart Ring's chassis 31 (FIG. 3 of the '390 Patent) is comprised of a 3D printed carbon fiber material.

The mood stone of an MPCT Smart Ring is a decorative Thermochromic Liquid Crystal decorative ring stone. In an exemplary embodiment, the mood stone is as taught in FIG. 2, element 20 of the '390 Patent and Table 1 of the '390 Patent.

A biosensor 45 (FIG. 4 of the '390 Patent) within an MPCT Smart Ring tracks the state of a mood stone 20 (FIG. 2 of the '390 Patent), to detect subtle physiological changes in the body, which research has demonstrated are due to the autonomic nervous system's response to stress. In an exemplary embodiment the biosensor is a programmable, low operating current, digital temperature thermometer having the following characteristics: a minimum range of 20 degrees C. to 40 degrees C.; a minimum resolution of 0.5 degrees C.; a minimum accuracy of 0.5 degrees C.; and a response time of less than 1 second.

In an exemplary embodiment, the MPCT Smart Ring's microprocessor (embedded processor 41 of the '390 Patent) is a low power, mixed signal 16-bit ARM® based micro-controller, having both integrated digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters.

In an exemplary embodiment, the MPCT Smart Ring's memory (memory 42 of the '390 Patent) is a NAND flash memory module having a density of 256 Megabytes and a having a bus width of 16-bits.

Wireless connectivity is provided by Communications Module 44 (FIG. 4 of the '390 Patent) within an MPCT Smart Ring provides Bluetooth® communication with a paired mobile device MCA 12 (FIG. 1 of the '390 Patent) running MSSD aware applications MSSA 52 (FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent). In an exemplary embodiment the Bluetooth Low Energy v4.0 standard protocol is implemented.

The MPCT Smart Ring's powering-charging element comprises a battery 47 (FIG. 4 of the '390 Patent) and recharge circuitry 48 (FIG. 4 of the '390 Patent). In an exemplary embodiment the battery 47 (FIG. 4 of the '390 Patent) is a 3.7V LIPO battery, having built-in overcharge protection circuitry, and the recharge circuitry 48 (FIG. 4 of the '390 Patent) comprises a USB wall charging adaptor with analog circuitry to adapt a wall outlet's AC current into a 4V DC charging current.

The MPCT deep breathing Intervention is a specific implementation of the Stress Monitor App (MSSDBI). An MSSDBI receives mood stone color information pertaining to the current physiological state of a wearer's paired MPCT Smart Ring via a Bluetooth connection. The mood stone information, for an MPCT Smart Ring, is mapped via a software algorithm to a wearer's current mood level: corresponding to a particular mood stone color range of “Blue,” “Green,” “Red,” and “Black.” In an exemplary embodiment, a mood stone's 20 (FIG. 2 of the '390 Patent and Table 1 of the '390 Patent) color of “Blue,” “Green,” “Red,” or “Black” is algorithmically classified as one of four different stress levels: “None,” “Low,” “Medium” and “High.” A “High” stress level is indicative of a wearer of an MPCT Smart Ring experiencing elevated levels of tension or emotional distress.

In an exemplary embodiment, when in the foreground of the operating system's 51 (FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent) user interface, an MPCT Stress MonitorApp 52 (FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent), echoes the Smart Ring's mood stone color and presents a message that is indicative of the wearer's current stress level. When a high level of stress is echoed, the wearer is presented with a link to an embedded deep breathing module within the MSSDBI example MPCT Stress Monitor App 52 (FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent).

Moreover, in an exemplary embodiment, when the Stress Monitor App 52 (FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent) is in the background of the operating system's 51 (FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent) user interface, system notifications alert the wearer to the occurrence of “High” levels of stress. The high stress alerts are further configured with a link to an embedded deep breathing module within the Stress MonitorApp 52 (FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent).

In an exemplary embodiment, the deep breathing module within an MSSDBI example MPCT Stress Monitor App 52 (FIG. 5 of the '390 Patent) guides a wearer through a 3 minutes long breathing session, intended to intervene the wearer's experience of physical symptoms arising from stress.

While in the foregoing, there have been described specific apparatuses and methods for the present invention, it is to be clearly understood that the provided description is exemplary and is not to limit the scope of the invention. 

I claim:
 1. A system and method comprising a smart ring and stress monitor app for detecting stress and for providing a complementary intervention for stress: the smart ring worn on a finger of a wearer for the purpose of sensing stress; the smart ring consisting of an electronics subsystem capable of monitoring a biological marker that is indicative of the wearer's stress level; the smart ring configured to transmit information about the wearer's stress level to said stress monitor app; the stress monitor app executing programmed instructions within an operating system of a pair mobile communications apparatus; the stress monitor app programmed to receive the wearer's stress level information from said paired smart ring; the stress monitor app programmed to characterize the received stress level information; and the stress monitor app programmed to send a notification to the wearer of the smart ring when the wearer's characterized stress level matches a configured level of tension or emotional distress; with said notification containing a link to a guided complementary intervention.
 2. The system and method of claim 1, wherein the smart ring is a mood sensing sharing device, in the setting of a ring, comprising an electronics subsystem and a temperature sensitive cholesteric stone; said cholesteric stone color responsive to said biological marker and indicative of the current stress level of the wearer of the smart ring.
 3. The system and method of claim 1, wherein the smart ring sends stress level information to the stress monitor app every thirty seconds.
 4. The system and method of claim 1, wherein the complementary intervention is a guided 3-minutes long deep breathing session. 